Blech

The NES I picked up as a donor for parts is a bit of a donkey, it's cart connector has been replaced with a cheap chinese knock-off of the original, it grabs cartridges with this grip of death, and basically breaks itself when you force them back out (the contacts bend and slide out).

Blech, there's not much I can do with it, but I've decided to take the connector off an old game genie instead, it's absolutely perfect for the task, it's already got eyelets to solder to and everything.

I mentioned before I hope to pull this off without BIOS modification of the PC10, since I want this thing to still behave like an arcade machine, and the hacked BIOS' out there disable this functionality. If I can't I'll have to work on my own BIOS, and Z80 assembler isn't something I've had experience with, though I guess it's about time I tried.

Also, despite an overwhelming abundance of 27C64 EPROMS, I presently have no way to erase them. I guess I should be googling around for some source of UVB light. The avon toothbrush-sanitizer hack works decently with little EPROMS like the 2764, but didn't seem to be able to clear the bigger 16 bit 27C1024, so I guess I need a real one. I have a Neo Geo and Taito f3 to be modifying (to cheat on the former, and to play in english on the latter).

I think when I get my EPROM eraser I'll throw Ice Climber onto my VS board, since it uses the same PPU as Super Mario Bros. My kid knows Ice Climber only as a character in Smash Bros, so it could be a little history lesson right there.

And that's the news. It's time to crack out the soldering iron and start doin', I suppose.